World

  • Indonesian prisoners refuse to cooperate with authorities

    People's Democratic Party (PRD) prisoners in Jakarta are refusing to answer any questions from the attorney-general's interrogators. In a letter smuggled out from the attorney general's detention centre, PRD chair Budiman Sujatmiko, PRD leaders

  • British trade unions in solidarity

    British trade unions in solidarity As the campaign in solidarity with the Indonesian democracy movement prepares for the October 28 international day of protest for human rights in Indonesia, British trade unions have decided to organise a protest

  • Protests mount over jailing of Tongan journalists

    International media organisations and Pacific islands groups have joined in a chorus of protest at the jailing on September 20 of two Tongan journalists and pro-democracy campaigner and MP 'Akilisi Pohiva. The jailings are the latest

  • Letter from the US: Profits from poverty

    Profits from poverty Since President Clinton signed the bipartisan law abolishing the 60-year-old guarantee of federal aid to poor children, one startling development has been proposals by giant corporations to take over the running of welfare

  • Widespread air transport of plutonium planned

    The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) last week approved new regulations allowing widespread air transport of plutonium and other nuclear materials. The decision massively increases the possibility of extensive nuclear

  • Nikitin case shows sad state of Russian rights

    MOSCOW — "Russia's Federal Security Service [FSB] said yesterday that it had observed all relevant legal norms in its arrest and detainment of Alexander Nikitin", an Itar-Tass report on September 11 stated blandly. The security

  • Brazil's foreign debt up

    Brazil's foreign debt up According to a report in the Folha de Sao Paulo, Brazil paid US$49.53 billion in interest alone to its foreign private and government creditors between 1990 and July 1996. Despite this, the total amount of the foreign debt

  • Study finds environment hazards are related

    Peter Montague Researchers studying clear lakes in Canada have found that climate warming, acid rain and increased ultraviolet sunlight (from depletion of the stratospheric ozone layer) all interact to allow more ultraviolet light to penetrate

  • A divided New Zealand heads for the polls

    AUCKLAND — It's election time here. There are four major parties competing in the October 12 election under New Zealand's new proportional representation system: National, Labour, New Zealand First and the Alliance. The polls

  • Short international news

    Okinawans oppose US bases On September 7, almost 90% of voters in Okinawa voted for a reduction of the US military presence on their island. Okinawan government officials said 482,538 votes supported the reduction and 46,232 voted against. Okinawa

  • Ariel Sharon: a man without a conscience

    Ariel Sharon has re-entered the government of Israel. Sharon is minister of national infrastructure, which includes energy, land management, railways, roads, mines, water and settlement roads in what Israel calls the

  • Tensions grow between Namibian unions and SWAPO

    SWAPO and the National Union of Namibian Workers (NUNW) were close allies during the struggle for liberation. These links date back to the early 1970s, when exiled SWAPO leaders in Tanzania established the Secretariat for Labour.